A thief's childhood
by sinos
Summary: two thief brothers try to deal with the constant decay of their village since their parents passed away. please review.
1. Chapter 1

A Thief's Childhood

Sinos: This is kind of a prelude to Mercenary Chronicals, my first fic. i didn't give a couple of my favorite characters very much depth so I thought it'd be a good idea 2 write this. Enjoy!

CH1

"Wake up Cole." Kyle said in sing-song voice as he put his dagger to his younger brother's throat. Like always Cole woke up screaming. Kyle did it to him every morning, but for some reason he never expected it.

Kyle backed up as he laughed and tripped over a thin piece of wire that Cole had set up the night before. It was Cole's turn to laugh but Kyle wasn't too happy about being made a fool of by his little brother.

Like every morning, Cole put on his dark blue cloak and Kyle hid his long dark hair under an ornate hat. Kyle holstered his three daggers and walked out into the village. It was no surprise that he didn't wait for Cole. He was always a little bit slow in the morning.

It was close to lunch time by the time Cole had gotten ready. He had misplaced his weapon, a beginer's throwing knife that Kyle had forged for him. The brothers were only two years apart, but their maturities were in completely different classes.

Kyle and Cole met up around late afternoon in the marketplace. It was almost time for their daily sparring match, but they had broken their wooden equipment the day before. Cole was perfectly fine with using iron weapons, but Kyle was obviously opposed.

The brothers were well known in the poor part of town they were in. Everyone knew of the plots they'd create that always seemed to work. No one ever had any proof it was them, but for some reason it was always easy to recognize their handy work. They already had a plan to get the equipment they needed. All they had to do was find the right sucker.

The boys were strolling down the road of merchants in the middle of town, examining the weapons. Kyle stopped at the booth of a merchant who they had never seen before. Cole looked at his brother and new exactly what he was thinking. This was the perfect sap.

Although the were brothers, it was hard to tell just by looking at them. Cole had eyes that were a dark shade of blue, and had a cocky air about him. Kyle had eyes that were a light shade of yellow and was obviously a well tempered person.

Cole fell back a few steps as kyle walked to the stand. Kyle struck up a conversation with the merchant as Cole waited. After a few minutes of small talk, Kyle dropped his ring. That was the signal. Cole came running and snatched up the ring.

"thief! That boy stole my ring!" kyle shouted as he pointed at Cole,who was running away. The merchant grabbed the bow that he kept for protection and started shooting into the crowd. Cole went full circle and ended up behind the merchant. He jumped up and cut the merchants arm ad ran off again, but this time the merchant followed. When he was out of sight, Kyle casually started taking the man's wooden daggers. There were dozens of witnesses but nobody would tell, lest they be the thieves 's next target. Cole nimbly ran through the crowd as the merchant ran after him like a madman. Cole finally came to a dead end. The merchant had him cornered. He pulled the arrow back and released what would have been a killing shot. Cole dropped and rolled toward the merchant as his arrow hit a mine that Cole had attached to the wall. The resulting blast knocked the man to the ground, giving the young boy enough time to escape.

"what took you so long?" Kyle said sarcastically when he met back up with his brother at the house. All Cole could do was laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch2

Cole charged forward as was customary for him at the beginning of a sparring match. Kyle crouched down and lunged upward as Cole swiped at him. The resulting blow made Cole's dagger fly out of his hands. Kyle then proceeded to slash at Cole's stomach, causing him to lose his breath.

'This was usually how the battle started out. It wasn't always the exact motions, but the outcome rarely differed. Cole stood up and threw his spare dagger at Kyle, knocking the hat off of his head as he crouched down.

Anyone who knew Kyle would predict the outcome of that shot. When his long hair went down, you could see the fire in his young eyes. The older brother took out his second dagger and charged at the younger sibling. Kyle thrust the dagger in his left hand at Cole's heart, but missed when Cole spun around and stabbed his dagger into Kyle's back. The older brother recovered by leaping into the air and throwing his right dagger.

Cole nimbly sidestepped the projectile and charged at his brother once more. Kyle saw what his brother was up to and decided to play along. They both charged each other at full speed. The brothers came to a stop with their daggers at each other throats.

They could've easily prolonged the match for hours, but something didn't feel right. Someone was watching them from the bushes. Cole gave a slight nod to Kyle. The older brother drew his iron dagger and threw it into the bushes. As expected, the unwelcome guest leaped up and ran off.

"So Cole, what is it this time? Mine? Tripwire?"

"Come see for yourself." Cole chuckled as he walked in the direction of the trap. About a quarter of a mile down the road, they found the victim of one of Cole's many traps. The intruder was found under a net that had spikes at the end to keep the ensnared on the ground.

The spy was facing away from them, sobbing uncontrollably. When the brothers walked around, they saw a girl that was a little younger than Cole.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Cole with a blank look on his face. Because of their lifestyle, the boys knew everyone in town but they had never met the girl that was weeping in front of them.

"My name is Jenny. My father sent me to learn from you two." answered the girl with an unsteady voice. The brothers looked at each other in disbelief. They had never thought about taking in an apprentice. They didn't think they were renound enough for anyone to really want to learn from the.

"I'm sorry you went to the trouble of coming this far, but we are not teachers by any means." kyle explained with a solemn look on his face.

"He told me that you'd say that. Do you wish to know the nae of my father?"

"You're the daughter of Ken, the Great Sage. I apologize but your lineage will not change our minds. Even if we were to teach you, what would you use these skills for. Before our parents died, we were just average kids. Why would a girl who's father is a famed sorcerer need the ability take from others?" Kyle asked, not really caring about the answer.

"if you must know, my father disowned me when I failed too learn magic. He took in an apprentice and told me to come here." the girl explained.

"The sage has dedicated his life to killing people like me and my older brother. She's a blatant liar." cole said to the two people, "I like her. I say we help her."

"Cole if we do this then that means it'll be that much harder to stay alive. Are you sure?

"Do you think I don't already know that? She needs our help, and I say we give it to her." Cole said with an air of maturity about him.


	3. Chapter 3

CH 3

Cole drew his training dagger as he watched Jenny do the same. To determine what natural abilities the little girl possessed, they had decided to pit her against Cole. Kyle had wanted to be the one that tested her, but it was decided that he wouldn't give enough room for her skill to be shown.

Jenny charged in, holding the small blade like a longsword. A grin appeared on the boy's face as he tried to suppress his laughter. He lowered his center of gravity as the apprentice closed in. Before she could thrust her blade, Cole popped into the air in a spinning uppercut, the wooden blade hitting her square in the throat.

She fell to her knees as she gasped for air. Cole walked to her and, in victory, put his foot on her back. He fell for it. She reached up and cupped her hand around the bottom of his leg and lifted as high as her noticeably powerful arms could go as she recovered from her position, causing Cole to land on his back. Showing her superior sportsmanship, Jenny allowed her opponent to to get to his feet before continuing the assault. Kyle, thoroughly entertained by watching a girl beat his little brother, stood speechless liking the girl more and more as the fight went on.

There were no more daggers drawn. Now they both had something to prove. The children eyed each other; Cole with his right leg slightly behind his left and Jenny, taking a lower stance to ready herself for Cole's retaliation.

"That's enough. Miss Jenny, it's obvious you have potential. You have my consent to train under us. Cole, what kinda sorry excuse for a fight was that?"

"She caught me off guard. How was I s'posed know she was that strong?" Cole cried in his own defense.

"You should have known better than to underestimate her. Face it Cole. If I hadn't stepped in, she would've beaten you." Kyle proclaimed with a slight chuckle.

"As if. Anyway, what is she going to do for a weapon? She may be good at hand to hand, but if my dagger had been real then she'd be dead right now."

Cole presented an interesting point. The knife was obviously not her best weapon, but if she had to fight someone with any experience with a weapon, she wouldn't stand a chance. Not to mention they'd already stolen a nice supply of knives that morning. The only reason the merchants let their crimes slide was because their robberies were few and far between. For the time being, he didn't want to risk the good graces of the townsfolk.

"Why can't you just steal another weapon for me?" Jenny asked, not seeing the whole picture.

Then it hit him! "I have a better idea. You're going to steal your own. That's your first test. Steal whatever you want and steal it however you want, but remember, you're on your own. Oh, and make sure to grab a wooden version of whatever you steal. We don't need you taking off Cole's head during practice. Well, unless I tell you to," Kyle explained, only half joking about the last part.

"Kyle, if we're going to be seen with this girl, we need to make sure she's not causing any trouble. My guess is that she's never stolen anything in her life. I want to go with her to make sure she doesn't get in over her head. I promise I won't step in unless she's doing something detrimental to our operations." Cole said, showing maturity where it was usually lacking.

" Alright. I guess you can tag along, but make sure she does her own work. You won't be doing her any favors by stealing them for her."

"Enough talking already. I'm ready to get going!" Jenny chimed in. The brothers stared at each other, wondering what to make of her enthusiasm.


End file.
